Fresh from the victory of having French cuisine declared part of the world's heritage by the United Nations, 15 of France's most illustrious chefs have launched a campaign to promote the country's gastronomy.

In a restaurant in the Eiffel Tower, 14 grand masters of haute cuisine - and one grande madame - waxed lyrical on the virtues of the art, the pleasure and even the economic benefits of being able to rustle up a good French meal.

"It is not arrogant or pretentious to say that France is the foundation of gastronomy for the planet," said Guy Savoy (two restaurants; five Michelin stars). "It is simply right. It's a fact. We have to stop beating ourselves up about it," he added, showing no signs of doing any such thing.

His colleague Joël Robuchon (once named "chef of the century") added: "There are French restaurants all over the world. When you want to open a restaurant you seek a French chef."

Another august maître cuisinier went further. "French gastronomy is the basis for cooking the world over," he declared, with a Gallic flourish that brooked no mention of what influence the French might have on, say, Japanese sushi or Indian curry.

Alain Ducasse (19 Michelin stars, including the three-star The Dorchester in London) spoke of hard economics: French restaurants turned over €50bn (£42bn) in 2009; the industry was the country's top recruiter last year and the fourth private employer in France. These were jobs, he said, that could not be "relocated to eastern Europe".

Gallic gastronomy was, someone else added, a "goldmine" for the French government. "The sales of French wine abroad are worth the equivalent of selling 180 Airbus. We want people to realise this," added Savoy.

Michel Guérard (one of the founders of nouvelle cuisine) preferred a more rhapsodic approach, talking of French cooking as a recipe of "imagination and science, poetry and technique" and quoting the painter Claude Monet.

The association, calling itself the Culinary College of France, says its mission is to "represent, promote and transmit the identity of French cuisine as well as the diversity, tradition and capacity to innovate that sums it up".

It plans to take part in the national Fête de la Gastronomie Française, an annual celebration planned for September; to produce a list of France's finest food products; to set up a "Louvre of gastronomy", and to encourage a new generation of chefs.

Only one ingredient was missing from the recipe: a pinch of humility, perhaps. When one journalist dared suggest the whole idea tasted rather strongly of national chauvinism, "we're French and proud of it," came the chorus from the kitchen. And so it came to pass that we learned how the French invented cooking and went forth to pass their knowledge to the rest of the world.